The Dare
by LavenderNight67
Summary: One Dare, two Hunters, a polar ice field and a crap-ton of Fallen. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I am still working on "Thunder and Lightning, but I wanted to post this in case anyone wants to jump forward in the series. The last part of TnL is basically the Taken King missions. Well, the last three. So it's going to take me a bit to finish it and get my charas out of trouble.

This takes place about a couple months or so after Thunder and Lightning.

Also this is #6 in the series because I have another fic planned that takes place before this one.

Kalara had just teleported in from her latest mission. Nothing great, just chaperoning a bunch of rookies around while they did patrols. she headed to the Cryptarch's booth to decode a couple of engrams she had picked up. The tower intercom came on "Attention, this is Cayde-6 of the Hunter Vangaurd. Would Kalara Baxtin please report in immediately." it switched off. She wondered how the boss knew she was back, and also wondered why he had paged her by name. She hurriedly finished, then ran for the stairs that led to the hall of the vangaurd.

As she passed, she heard Eris whisper something about "the whispers have finally ceased." she threw a glance, a smiling nod, before continuing on. She jogged past the crucible stands, speeding up a bit. She still owed Lord Shaxx for shutting down the crucible not once, but twice. She slowed as she reached the steps to the room where the Vangaurd leaders were, striding in to walk up to the table across from the Hunter Vangaurd leader. "Hey, boss. Why'd you page me?" she glanced around "And over the intercom. Is it serious? what's going on?"

He motioned for her to go around the table. She hurried around to where he was. "What's up? Another mission?"

He just regaurded her, amusement obvious. "You're so serious. What's wrong, Dreg give you a bad morning?"

Kalara huffed. "No." She folded her arms, noticing glances from the other two Vangaurd leaders and leaned forward slightly. "so what's going on?"

She could have sworn if he could smirk, he would have. "I have a challenge for you, Gaurdian. If you're up to it."

One eyebrow raised slightly. If the Hunter had one tell, you could tell she was interested with it. "Okay."

"A dare. Well, specifically, *the* dare."

"The what?"

Zavala answered. "The Vangaurd Dare. Only issued from a leader to their brightest student. And it seems that Cayde has chosen you."

she looked from him back to Cayde, suprised. "What?, why me?"

He gave her a look that said "Isn't it obvious."

She paused to think about it, then asked "what is this.. Dare?"

He shook his head slightly. "I can't tell you till we get there. Either you accept or you don't."

Kalara looked to her left, and Zavala answered "The Vangaurd Dare is a tradition upheld by the tower for centuries. It allows a Vangaurd leader to challenge their most promising Gaurdian to a mission that is uncomparable to any other they have ever been on. Should they succeed, they will have proven themselves worthy of a true Vangaurd reputation."

she thought about it for a moment, then asked Cayde "since it's a dare, is there a wager involved?"

"See, didn't I say, a Gaurdian who thinks just like I do." Ikora shook her head at him before adding "you should probably provide an explanation."

"Yeah." He looked over at Kalara. "There is a wager. But you have to win the bet to get what you want. and truth be told, it's not gonna be easy. But it will be fun. well, for me it will be. but... I'm sure you'll do just fine." Kalara blinked in suprise. He continued. "We can discuss the wager when we get there. So, are you in or out?"

Kalara thought quickly. "How dangerous is it?"

Cayde scoffed. "You took out the Taken King. How hard can this be compared to what you've allready done?" Kalara nodded. "Okay. So when do we do this?"

"Meet me here tomorrow afternoon. and pack your parka. It's gonna be cold."

"Oh, lovely."

He went back to studying his map, and Kalara walked out, wondering just what she'd gotten herself into.

The next morning, her alarm went of at ten am. She rolled over and smacked the alarm. Then she climbed out of bed. At ten-thirty, she was out at the plaza, listening to the birds and waiting for her comm to signal her. After a while, she walked over to Eververse, wondering if they had any new inventory.

After that, she wandered toward the vault access pillars. If she was going on any really difficult missions, she wanted to have her heavy ammo and special ammo synth ready to use.

Eleven rolled around and Kalara was just full of excitement. And dread. She wondered exactly what this would be. And where?

Noon came and went, and Kalara was pacing. she idly thought about comming zanthyr to see what he was doing, but knowing the Titan, he was either out on a mission, or still in bed.

At Twelve Thirty, Kalara wanted to go down to the hall of leaders to find out just what was going on. Or if someone had forgotten about the Dare. Or if that certain someone was still busy. Instead she headed to the Lounge to get something to eat.

It wasn't until One Thirty that her comm finally dinged. She lifted her head from the lounge table and muttered "thank goodness." and walked up the steps toward the hangar, heading for the hall that led to the Plaza.

"Hey, Kalara!" The shout came from down on the landing area. She stopped, wondering at first where the shout had come from, but saw the familiar figure down next to a parked ship on the platform. She made her way down and up to him. "Hey, boss; I was wondering when you were gonna comm me."

Cayde nodded "you ready to go?"

"Yeah, where are we going?"

"You'll find out, when we get there."

Kalara's eyebrows went up a little at the secretiveness, but she said "I'll go get my ship."

"You don't have to. You're riding with me."

Another look of confusion.

"Nobody knows where this place is, and that's the way it has to be. Two Gaurdians, one ship."

Kalara nodded, following him.

The ship went to warp, and Kalara wondered just what far-off distant star they were about to visit. She was pulled out of her thoughts when Cayde said "A few things you should know. One, this is a polar ice field, so watch yourself. Two, no solar weapons. Unless you want to become a guradiancicle. The ice re-freezes justabout as fast as it melts. So if you go down, there's probly no chance of you coming back up."

Kalara nodded. There was a pause, then she asked "Okay. So... where are we going?"

"..Let's just say, I call it 'the Playground'."

Kalara rolled her eyes at the evasiveness of his answer. "So, about this wager."

"Heh, thought you'd never ask." A pause, then. "Last Gaurdian I brought here got his own post out at one of the Vangaurd outposts. You thought about yours?"

Kalara shrugged "I don't know." She paused for a second, thinking. She had an idea, but wasn't sure of it. "What's this 'Dare' all about, anyway?"

Cayde looked over his right shoulder at her. "Kill the most Fallen, and die the least amount of times." Kalara felt a sudden chill creep up her spine. She had faced down the Taken King. How bad could this be, right?

They transmatted to the surface, a howling frozen plane of snow and ice. Kalara winced as the polar wind pushed against her armor, even thought she couldn't really feel it; Her armor was too heavily insulated. It nearly unbalanced her, but she kept her footing. Ahead of her, Cayde had allready dissapeared into the blizzard of snow.

She hurried to catch up, the gales of frozen particles subsiding as they crested the peak of a mountain. They edged down a narrow pathway just below the slope. Cayde stopped, crouching behind a mound of snow-covered ice. Kalara followed suit. His comm caught her slightly off-gaurd. "So, you think about what your wager is gonna be?"

She replied "I like my place in the tower. I've been training rookies and things like that, and I don't want some far-flung region of the universe. I just want a spot right next to you. Doing what I think I can do best. And, by the way, what's your end of this? what if I lose?"

"You mean what if I win, right?"

A pause, then Cayde responded "Well, if I win this, I guess it means you're not as good as I thought you are."

Kalara muttered "ouch."

"Just sayin'." He glanced over. His tone turned serious. "But if something really bad does happen, just promise you can get my Ghost back to the tower."

Kalara looked truly confused, until the clouds of snow below them passed, revealing over a hundred Fallen, milling around their base of operations below on the ice. Kalara commed "I'm not taking your job. Not in a million years! Either we both leave, or neither of us do."

A sigh "Again with the drama."

Kalara was dead-serious. "I have snuck off into the city. I've heard some of the stories the older folks tell." she waited a second, then continued. "I've heard the tales, I allready knew how you got your post. I'm not leaving here without you."

she wondered what kind of look he was giving her, then he tossed off "fine, be dramatic. Whatever." and moved away from her, looking toward the group below them.

Kalara almost argued she wasn't being dramatic, but instead let it go. She looked at the group through the scope of her sniper rifle, scanning the encampment. "Bet I could pick off at least three from up here before they see us." She loaded her weapon and pulled the loading pin back.

"Yeah, if you want to cause an avalanche."

Kalara looked behind her and up. They were just below the peak, and the snow above them didn't look too stable. She put it away and snuck over to where Cayde was, and asked "Then how do we do this?"

He glanced over and sounded amused "Like this." He jumped up and ran to the edge, slid down the mountain. Kalara stared for a second, then realised he'd gotten a head start. "Hey, wait up!"

"Come on, slowpoke, you're gonna miss out on all the fun!"

Kalara didn't even have time to think before following, doing a jump over a rock in her path, then went into a slide. She eyed the small army across the ice and muttered "This is rediculous. Over a hundred Fallen with possibly ice-melting energy weapons. Yeah, Let's just run up to a small army and start shooting. We are so gonna die."

"That's what our Ghosts are for!"

Kalara shook her head and kept following.

She could see him stop below and duck behind some rocks. She smirked and stopped to jump down a few more rocks. She headed right, half sliding, half walking. She switched to her auto-rifle, reaching for grenades. They were still far enough away, around the right side of the mountain that the Fallen wouldn't see them. Kalara reached the bottom and edged around the mountain, looking for any Fallen at the edges of their camp. No such luck.

Piles of crates littered the area, and several of what looked like square shipping containers were scattered near the center. A small building of some sort was at the center, but Kalara couldn't make it out exactly; Too many Fallen. She commed "No strategy, no plan. This is just crazy." Cayde appeared behind her startling her as he ran past "Who needs a plan when you have guns!?"

Kalara made an exasperated motion, not just for the comment, but for being startled as well. She switched to her rocket launch "Eh, the heck with it. If I'm gonna die, might as well take a few with me."

Cayde raced toward the horde, shooting three Dregs as he approached. "First three, you coming or what?"

He jumped sideways as a rocket screamed past, taking out five. "Who said I had to be nearby?" He looked over his shoulder and Kalara was a few meters away, rocket launcher still smoking as she ran toward them. "Behind you!"

Cayde ducked and fired, hitting two Vandals in the chest. He backed up as three more came in from the left, hand cannon deafening as it echoed around the ice. Kalara hurled a grenade into the first group. she could see at least twenty more behind those. She steeled herself, shaking her head. "And I thought being swarmed by Thrall was bad. But there were only twenty of them." She glanced over but Cayde was gone, further left, firing into the group. One by one, they fell. He was still counting, too. "..eleven, twelve...

Kalara groaned and leapt into the first group, blade flashing as she spun. An open-palmed strike, a powered punch. She grinned and punched the ice, sending four dregs and a Vandal flying. Stabbed another. "Thirteen, Fourteen." she laughed and backed up, switching back to her auto-rifle. "Fifteen..." she spotted a handful of Dregs to her right. "Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen..." suddenly a sharp pain to her chest. She looked down. "Damn." One of Fallen had managed to shoot her somehow. She looked up and found herself face-to-face with a Captain. It lunged out, slashing with it's dagger. As she fell, she fired at it's head.

The world turned sideways and faded to black. A second or two later, the world came back into focus and Kalara found herself on the ice, back around the bottom of the mountain where she had come down onto the ice. She jogged toward the horde, pulling out her rocket launcher again. "Heads up!" she fired into the crowd and her comm came on with a startled "Hey! watch where you're pointing that thing!"

Kalara laughed "sorry."

She could hear that hand cannon booming as she ran up to the roaring crowd. Suddenly, it stopped. Kalara halted, folding her arms. A few of the Fallen turned and roared at her, firing from where they were. She sidestepped, glancing downward at the orange energy bursts. Her eyes widened and she scooted to the left quickly. Where the blast had hit, the ice had melted in a two foot radius. Kalara suddenly felt a pang of fear. She didn't know why, but the idea of drowning (or being trapped in ice forever) felt terrifying.

She suddenly had an idea. She quickly rifled through her inventory for her *other* rocket launcher. It had less impact, but that didn't matter. It just happened to be a solar-type weapon. She found it and aimed at the center of the group. She fired. Six Fallen went flying, and those behind them pressed forward angrily before they knew what they were stepping into. "Ooh. twenty-five twenty-six... Thirty! Hah!"

Cayde raced past so fast she wondered if he was annoyed with her or just excited. The Hunter ran and slid, phasing as he went passing through another Captain, hitting it from behind as he went. There was a loud series of bangs and six more Fallen dropped to the ice. A cluster grenade. Kalara whirled as she slashed at more Dregs, blocking the dagger-strike of a Vandal and side-stepped to stab another before killing the first with a palm-strike.

The Fallen started to thin out and Kalara backed up to count them, throwing up a dome shield. It flickered. Kalara muttered "Oh come on." It dissapeared. Kalara ran left passing Cayde as he ran right. As they passed she called out "Careful, there's holes over there."

"Thanks for the heads-up."

Kalara shot the next two Dregs and looked beyond them. "Oh-" she hit her comm, sounding both scared and excited. "Fallen Walker Fallen Walker!"

The huge six-legged tank came lumbering out from behind one of their stockiple-and-transport-box constructs twenty meters away. Kalara ducked behind a pile of crates.

"Okay, you don't have to repeat yourself." Although his tone sounded somewhat teasing.

"Somebody sounds like they're not having fun. Is it because I'm winning?" Kalara echoed his tone.

As if to answer, the sound of a rocket exploding against tank armor echoed around the valley. Kalara grinned, running across to another pile. "So," she asked almost casually "How do we count this one? whoever fires the final shot? or do you just want this one all to yourself." The tank's returning fire shook the ice under her feet.

She glanced around the crates. "Boss?" no answer. Kalara shook her head and waited. Instead of a smart-aleck answer, Cayde actually sounded like he was encouraging her "You want this one, Gaurdian, go get it."

She smirked and fired her rocket launcher, running to the set of crates to the left. She pulled out her sniper, aimed at it's turret, and fired. It slowly turned to aim at her. She ran right, switching back to her rocket launcher. "Darn. No ammo." She searched her inventory and found her ammo synth. She pulled out the pre-programmed package and pressed the button to activate. A second later, she slid an ammo cartrige into the launcher. But she was a moment too late. The tank fired it's main energy weapon, and the crates behind her exploded, taking Kalara with them.

Kalara picked herself up off the ice and looked at the pile of snow she brought down with her when she came down onto the ice the first time. She brushed herself off, and jumped when a voice behind her suddenly said "If I jump out and yell boo, will you be startled?" she whirled and gave Cayde a glare, but it went unseen because of her helmet. He chuckled. "Guess that means yes." and walked past her. Kalara followed, shaking her head.

The two broke into a run, Cayde ducked left and Kalara jumped up, double jumping higher before starting to glide over the tank. She realised her glide wasn't working, and insteaad was coming down directly on top of it. She went for a supercharged fist instead, and came down directly on it's turret, landing a Fist of Fury that exploded into the weapon. It sparked and smoked, and Kalara jumped away before it exploded, going in the direction she had intended to glide. As she ran, she switched to her rocket launcher, whirled, and fired off two rockets before it could turn to face her.

Cayde appeared from her right, flaming gun in hand, moving fast and firing rapidly at the tank. Kalara wondered how the ice was staying frozen, but could see the melting footsteps behind him. "Risky," she thought. "But interesting." All three shots connected and the tank's legs wobbled. One gave out and it listed to one side, smoke pouring from somewhere she couldn't see. The tank shuddered, and metal shrieked as it tried to get up.

She moved in the opposite direction, reloading her rocket launcher. She tossed a grenade at the tank as she went. She paused to crouch behind a metal barrel and popped up, firing off a shot. The tank managed to get it's legs under it and was turning toward her. Her HUD said it was almost too damaged to function. A shot whizzed past and Kalara glanced at it. A pair of Shanks floated nearby. She ignored them and aimed...

It's laser beam landed on her. She raised her launcher and fired.  
The round exploded into the tank's head and the shrill metal-on metal shriek got louder. Machinery ground to a halt and smoke billowed from the machine. It collapsed. Kalara did a little jump, then tossed a grenade at the shanks.

The last ten Fallen ran toward them, shooting and growling out insults. Two Vandals got closer, and she stabbed them. Cayde took out three more, each with a single shot from his hand cannon. Kalara glanced, over, impressed at his accuracy. Another dreg ran at her and she fired, three of her bullets missed, the next five connected. it dropped. They ran toward the final ones, and the dregs backed off, hiding on the other side of some crates, Kalara found two, He found the other two. The area was quiet. Kalara looked around. "Wow. That. Was. Epic."

"See, told you it would be fun."

Kalara hefted her auto-rifle and walked away, shaking her head.

"What? you had fun, right?"

She clipped her weapon to her back armor and leaned against a stack of crates and watched the sun set. "So, what now? do we go back? Is that it?"

"You kidding? we got fourty-eight hours. Besides, they'll be sending another skiff in a while."

Kalara glanced over her shoulder. "They will?"

"Yeah. They send in a skiff in the morning to drop off their guys and some supplies, and another one in the evening to replace them. It's like clockwork." Kalara nodded, understanding the archaic phrase.

"C'mon, I got a camp site nearby. I know they say Gaurdians don't sleep, but some of you do, right?"

Kalara nodded.

He headed across the ice from where they had come in, what Kalara would call the 'back' of the ice field. They hiked up an old trail behind the lower peaks of the glacier and up to a flat spot hidden behind a tall snow-covered ice mound. Kalara looked around it and could see the 'Playground' a couple hundred feet away to her right. She glanced left and Cayde had dissapeared. "Boss?"

He stepped out from what loked like a solid wall of snow-covered ice. "Right here. Come on." She looked at it then stepped through. They were in a short hallway carved into the side of the mountain. "Hold on." He went to one side and reached around a space in the ice. Something clicked and powered down. Kalara tilted her head in curiosity. "Scatter Field." he explained. "Keeps anyone from finding this place. Or from telling about it if they do."

As they walked in, Kalara looked around. It was a smallish unevenly-shaped room. Off to the right the room extended about six feet, angling further to the right with a stack of boxes against a wall. Beyond that next to it was a lamp atop another stack of boxes. That was about ten feet or so, she guessed. From that wall to the left was a little more, probably another ten feet, with a cot against the back wall. The left wall was empty.

Cayde sat on one stack of boxes across from her and Kalara sat on the cot. After a minute of awkward silence, Cayde asked "So, whattya think of the trip so far?"

Kalara shrugged. "It's been... interesting."

"Just interesting? that's it?"

"Well, no. I 'm just not sure how to describe it. I mean, we took out around a hundred Fallen, a Fallen Walker, and...I think it was pretty great, to tell you the truth." Another pause, then "Okay, not gonna lie. It was awesome." she grinned inside her helmet.

"Good. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Cause we get to go do it again tomorrow."

Kalara nodded. There was another pause, then she asked "Hey, does this planet have an atmosphere?"

"Yeah."

"Good." She summoned her Ghost and it transmatted her helmet away. She put her hood back and shook out her hair. "Much better." She noticed His helmet had dissapeared as well. She looked back to her ghost. "My bag, please." Her ghost transmatted it and Kalara reached down into it, pulled out the bottle of Vodka she and Lavender had been drinking. "Care for a drink?"  
"I would but somebody has to keep watch in case any Fallen find this place"

Kalara shrugged "why not just turn on the scatter field?"

Cayde just looked at her for a second. "Ever tried to fight the Fallen with a hangover? You want to drink, go right ahead. I think I'll pass."

Kalara shrugged and retrieved a glass, setting it next to her, then a lump of something wrapped in a peice of cloth, she unfolded the cloth to reveal a pile of lumpy black-colored berries. Kalara popped one into her mouth, chewing as she deposited several more into her glass.

"what're those?"

"Wild berries. Lav and I found them on Earth."

"Are you sure they aren't poisonous?"

"Yep."

"Really. How can you tell?"

"Allready ate some."

"huh. Daring, yet sensible."

"Thank you." Kalara poured herself a glass of the stuff and ate three more berries as she took a swig, making a face. "Tastes awful, but it gets the job done." She heard a chuckle from the other side of the room.

After a second, Cayde stood. "Come on, I want to show you something." They walked out of the cave into the darkness. Down below the lights of the Fallen camp illuminated the valley. He led her around to the opposite side of the peak, where the light from the camp was blocked and looked up. Kalara followed his gaze, a look of amazement dawned on her face.

Up above in the sky, what looked like a curtain of color swept across the sky. Green, yellow, hues of blue on one end descending into red and purple toward the bottom of the other. Kalara stared, entranced. Next to her, Cayde said "The Aurora Borealis. Haven't seen it in years. It's still just as beautiful."

"It is." Kalara stared up into the sky. After a moment, she paused to take another sip of her drink. Cayde sat, putting his back to the glacier. Kalara joined him and they sat in silence, just staring up at the sky, enjoying the peacefull view.

A while later, Kalara was awakened by a gentle shake of her shoulder. "Hey."

She looked up, not realising she had dosed off. "Come on. It's bedtime for you, Gaurdian." kalara cursed inwardly at being caught off-gaurd like that, but followed Cayde back around the mountaintop to the cave. she grabbed the now-frozen berries and wrapped them up, setting them under the cot and grabbed her bag, scrunching it up for a pillow before curling up on the cot. "Night, boss."

"night, rookie."

she made a scoffing noise "stop calling me that."

"will when you stop acting like one." she could hear the sarcasm.

"Whatever." she rolled her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

End notes: The line about "If I jump out and yell boo..." comes from actual experience. I'm 5 foot 2 & 3/4 (not even 5'3") and where I work we have to go out to the dumpster area to smoke (yes, I smoke cigarettes). I allways go to the very back, where the dumpsters block anyone's view of me. I've unintentionally startled several co-workers, one of them at least three times. So I finally started telling my coworkers as soon as they walk in the opposite end (to the right of me) "If I jump out and yell 'boo', will you be startled?" LOL.

The Scatter Field is basically a forcefield that will kill anything it comes into contact with. I like to think this is what the Tower uses to discourage Guardians from jumping off the Tower. That's why in-game you die as soon as you jump.

The "black lumpy berries" are actually a combination of Mulberries and Black Berries. They're pretty common where I live, so I thought maybe my character would like them, too.


	2. Chapter 2

Morning came and Kalara woke, though she couldn't tell it was morning until she walked out onto the flat space outside their 'camp site'. The sun was allready over the horizon, reflected brilliantly on the ice below. She turned and walked back into the cave, digging around into her bag till she found a meal bar she had brought back with her. The portable rations weren't exactly tasteful, but it was better than going without. she glanced over at Cayde, who was staring off into space. One eyebrow went up. She walked over. "Hey boss."

No resonse.

She waved a hand in front of his face.

"Heh, and they say Exos don't sleep." She chuckled softly, figuring he was recharging or something, and walked out.

Some time later, the Exo lifted his head to the sound of a single-shot high-powered weapon firing, a reload, another gunshot. A sniper rifle. He walked out and looked around.

BLAM!

Click-click

BLAM

click-click

When he walked out of the cave, it was off to his right, but he couldn't see the source. The sniper must have been using cloaking tech. They were at a distance, off to the other lower peak of the glaciatic mountains.

BLAM!

click-click

BLAM!

Cayde caught sight of the rippling outline of a cloaked hunter as he approached. Kalara glanced over. "Morning, boss." she switched it off and rippled into view. The gun she had was a charcoal-colored sniper rifle, rather square in design; A rectangular weapon, compared to some of the others. Cayde tilted his head. "Omalon. Nice."

Kalara nodded. "Thanks. I know it's not an exotic, but I haven't missed one target yet with it." she aimed down the scope and picked off a Vandal. She looked left and a pair of Dregs were headed past each other. She aimed and fired once, droppping both."ooh, twofer." she knew the term went unrecognised. It had come from Lavender.

"Huh?"

"Ever heard the phrase 'Two birds one stone?"

"Yeah."

"Two Dregs, one bullet. Or two opponents, one bullet."

"Okay. I see. So, are we gonna get this party started or what?"

Kalara jumped up just in time to catch up with him as he started down the trail toward the ice. "oh no you don't!" She laughed as she double-jumped, landing just ahead of him as they headed down the trail toward the ice field.

They rounded a giant ice formation and found a hundred or so more Fallen on the ice field in front of them. Kalara loooked over toward where the first Fallen Walker had appeared from and spotted a second. "I think they're here looking for something."

"Yeah, I suspected that. What do you see?"

"Another Fallen Walker. And a lot more troups."

"well, looks like we have a challenge on our hands, Gaurdian. Are you up to it?"

A look from Kalara said "of course" without her having to say it. She summoned an orb of white energy.

"Yeah, thought so."

Kalara ran out onto the ice, launching the orb of white energy at the first group, leading the group toward where she was. To her left, Cayde paused as a Vandal's energy blast struck his armor and he felt the ice under him start to melt. Kalara ran and shoved him, falling halfway into the deepening hole. She tried to get a grip to pull herself back up out of it, hands scrambling against the ice at the edge. Cayde snapped off two more shots then leaned over to yank her up out of the refreezing mush.

"Thanks."

"no problem."

Kalara tossed a grenade at the group as she rounded the right side, twirling to phase as the tank fired. The giant bolt of energy passed through her harmlesly and she ducked behind a stack of crates. she glanced across the ice field, but the view was obscured by the mass of Fallen and their latest supply drop. She heard the thundering echo of her mentor's hand cannon, and caught a glimpse of movement in her peripheral vision. She was too late, and the stealth Vandal struck out with it's blades.

She reapppeared across the ice field, and decided to take the shorter route. She jumped, double-jumped and glided toward the group, firing her rocket launcher at the center. A good dozen went flying. She landed and twirled as she slashed a dreg, then a second, switched back to her auto-rifle and took out two more Vandals. Behind her, Cayde yelled "Look out!" and a rocket slammed into the Fallen behind her, sending her flying as well.

She reappeared again, shaking her head. She switched over to her sniper this time, and scanned the ice field. Something larger than the rest was moving at the back of the group. She zoomed in. "Ooh, an Archon." she jogged forward so she would be in range, and looked through the scope. No sign of it. She scanned the field, watching Cayde weave back and forth between Fallen. One Dreg, two Vandals. Another Captain. Two more tried to get behind him, he whirled snapping off two shots and they fell.

Something moved behind the small structure at the center of the area, Kalara assumed it was a building of some sort, and the Hunter backed off. Two shots from somewhere in the mass pinged off his armor, and Kalara kept her scope trained on whatever figure was behind that building. She suspected the Archon. she was right when it fired off three shots rapid fire, and Kalara fired off two shots of her own before Cayde appeared behind her.

She refocused, squeezing the trigger.

BLAM

click-click

BLAM

He walked up next to her, hefting an oversized rocket launcher and fired. The small missile whooshed into the crowd and exploded. Several angry-sounding roars echoed, and more Fallen dissapeared into the melted ice where the missile had struck. Kalara looked at it in suprise, noticing the symbol. "You have Jade Rabbit?"

"Yeah." he said it like it would be obvious. It made sense, given it was a Hakke weapon. Kalara knew her mentor had a penchant for that type. She smirked, and instead of saying something about getting upstaged, said "You know that's a Titan weapon, right?

"Is not." he sounded defensive.

Kalara chuckled to herself. "Is too." she started forward.

"No, it's not." now he was insistent.

Kalara shrugged. "Okay, whatever." She ran across the ice, leaving him standing there for a second, probably thinking about it. She laughed and launched herself across the ice, tossing a grenade right, switching midair to jump left and fire off a burst of shots at the Archon.  
Now she brought out her own hand cannon, aimed at the Archon's head and fired.

Eteher sprayed as it fell, she whirled and fired off two more shots right, two Captains roared as they fell. Kalara spotted Cayde behind them and waved with her weapon. "Eighty-five. You're getting behind."

He gave her a look, head tilted slightly, as though to say 'really' and fired off another shot "Ninety Four." two more shots, three more shots. One to the left, two to the right. she wondered how anyone could be so accurate, but this *was* Cayde, after all. She slashed a trio of Dregs, stabbing the last for good measure.

The Fallen Walker was still on the other side of the containers beyond them, so it wasn't a threat just yet. Still, she was tempted to go make sure it wouldn't be any trouble anytime. She double-jumped, landing in a crouch atop the center building and sighed the other end of the battlefield. She hit her comm. "Hey, I think they know they're in trouble. There's a Baron at the other end of the ice field."

"We'll just have to take him out too, then."

Kalara tossed another grenade, picking off Fallen from her vantage point, she could make out the Fallen Walker between crates pacing back and forth. "Must have a designated area to patrol." she thought. She looked for the Baron again, but didn't see it until she spotted it closer, striding toward them. The crowd was thinning, and the Baron was angling over toward the center of the area where she was.

A pair of shanks floated up from her right, then two more from behind her. Her Auto-rifle took care of those. Then she jumped up and focused on void energy, sending it into the Fallen below. One Vandal jumped out of the way. And right into Cayde's sights

BLAM!

it fell, ether spraying from it's head.

Kalara counted twenty-five left. Time to make it count. she jumped up, tossing a ball of white energy into the nearest set. The vandals dodged, and the Dregs squealed as they dissapeared. She jumped off the buiding, brought up her auto-rifle and got three shots before she was close enough to swing her dagger, catching one across the midsection and throat and stabbed the second, pulling back to fire off the killing shot. The Baron had taken cover behind the crates across from her, and she spotted Cayde making a beeline for it.

"Barons aren't extra points, you know." she teased.

"That's okay. You stick to your easier targets. I prefer more of a challenge."

Kalara scoffed, but took out two more Shanks floating nearby. Suddenly there was a rumble and a shadow passed overhead. A Skiff rumbled in, hovering low behind them as more Fallen leapt from the bottom of it. Cayde sounded suprised across the comm "huh. They're early."

"Guess they heard somebody wanted a challenge." Kalara grinned.

The new group of fallen had them pinned between the Walker and the incoming group. Kalara took a quick count. "There's only about twenty or so. We can handle 'em." she glanced over at where the Baron had retreated to a distance, a pair of Vandals flanking it. She suddenly noticed it's weapon didn't look much like the standard Fallen weapon. Not that she'd seen a Baron more than once or twice. But she wasn't sure.

One of the Vandals shimmered out of view and Kalara commed "there's two stealth Vandals with that Baron."

"Oh I know." came the confident reply.

The new group was rapidly approaching and Kalara had to dodge a hailstorm of weaponfire. She launched a grenade to slow them down, several went flying, several more became trapped in the ice as more ran past.

To the right, Cayde backed off, trying to get a bead on the Baron. One stealth Vandal got too close and he fired. The Vandal shimmered into view as it fell. The second was behind him and lunged, stabbing the hunter in the shoulder before Cayde whirled and fired. Kalara was counting to herself with each one she shot, auto-rifle deafening in the frozen arctic air.

Cayde put his back to the crates and summoned his Ghost. It scanned his shoulder, then the Baron made a break for it. Kalara glanced over in time to see Cayde start to raise his gun and the Baron aim through the open space and fire.

A purple-and-black laced energy beam shot out of the weapon, Kalara nearly dropped her gun. She leapt up and summoned a huge orb of white energy, launching it into the Baron. Cayde strode over as she landed. "What was that!? I had him right where I wanted him."

Kalara looked behind him. "Missing something?"

He glanced over his shoulder. His Ghost that had been hovering close to him now lay on the ice, eye glowing, but completely unmoving. Kalara looked to the right, noticing how close the approaching group was. Cayde ran over and grabbed up his ghost, looking at it then back up at her with an unreadable expression. half a second later, a bolt of energy whizzed through the air, narrowly missing him. He fired back, two Dregs fell.

The Vandal behind the Dregs fired, knocking the Exo completely off his feet. Kalara hurled an orb of void energy at it, then focused on the remaining Fallen behind it.

Lavender hummed a tune softly as she walked down the steps and past Eris Morn, through the next room, nodding to Lord Shaxx as she passed. It had been four days since 'The dare' had been issued, and she was starting to worry. She figured the pair had arrived back late last night. She knew how they both liked to 'push the envelope' when it came to time restrictions.

She walked down the final set of steps to find Cayde's spot at the table still empty. She looked confused. Ikora looked over at her as she passed "Gaurdian."

Zavala straightened from where he'd been studying a data tablet. Lavender glanced over then back at him in confusion. "Gaurdian, did Baxtin tell you where she and Cayde were going?"

"...no. why? They're not back yet?"

"No. They were supposed to have fourty-eight hours maximum for their challenge. "

A suprised look crossed her face, and Zavala added "They are fourty-eight hours late and we can't raise either of them on the intercom."

Ikora added "we hoped you might know where to find them."

Lavender looked slightly worried, then thought for a second, then suggested. "Maybe they're just really having fun and lost track of time?" She could have sworn she heard the Vangaurd commander make an annoyed sound. Lavender asked "Has the boss taken anyone else out there? I heard Kalara say something about another Gaurdian."

Zavala thought for a second before replying "Shiro-4. Cayde's previous protoge'. He holds a post at Felwinter peak, but we have yet to recieve an answer from him."

Lavender nodded. "Hang on." she rounded the table and picked up one of the datapads, glancing up. "Don't worry, I'm no hacker. But I have paid attention when Kalara's on her tablet."

She typed something in, picked up the earpiece, switched to general comm so the leaders would be able to hear and respond, and tapped a button. It beeped once, twice, then a male voice came on. "Shiro here."

Lavender said "Hi. Aviaria Lavis here, calling from the tower..."

"Oh hi guys! How's everything back at the tower?" Lavender looked over at Zavala.

"Shiro four, this is commander Zavala..." Lavender could almost hear the hunter stiffen at the voice of the commander.

"I need to know the location of what is called 'the playground'."

"I, uh, don't know.. sir." Shiro sounded quite hesistant. A pause, then "May I ask why?"

"Your mentor has gone missing after taking another Gaurdian out on a 'Dare'. They are fourty-eight hours past the challenge deadline."

There was a brief silence, then "Maybe they're just really having fun?" Lavender ignored the look the commander gave her.

"That's what I said."

Another look, she swore it was a glare.

Zavala asked "Are you sure you do not know where they went?"

"No, sir. and I'm sorry I can't help you. But I hope you find them."

The comm clicked off. Lavender shook her head. After thinking on it, she finally said "Kalara said it was someplace cold." There was a pause, then "There can't be that many cold planets or places on planets, right?" she set Kalara's tablet back down on the table, trying to think where they could have gone.

Suddenly,a loud, shrill alarm sounded from Cayde's tablet. A high-pitched descending tone, repeating rapidly. A red triangle with an exclamation point in the center appeared. Lavender picked it up. "that's a panic alarm." She tapped the center of the screen. "It's her." Her head lifted. "They're in the Arctic. They're here on Earth."

Zavala answered "Find them. Bring them home."

Lavender nodded. she set down the datapad and strode around the table. "Gavin, need your team. We gotta go help Kalara. Meet me in orbit." she dropped her right hand from her comm and her left summoned her Ghost as she walked out, transmatting to her ship.

They teleported in to the frozen plain, ice as far as the eye could see. The wind kicked up trails of frozen particles whisping across the bare landscape. Gavin glanced at Lavender. "You're sure we're in the right place?"

She nodded. "Positive."

They started toward where the transmission had come from, and the freezing wind picked up, obscuring the icy plain ahead. Lavender tilted her head. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Gavin listened for any sound other than the wind, then shrugged. Just behind them, Saniya looked slightly to the right. "Thunder? or the ice shifting." she wondered.

A bright flash lit the sky ahead. Lavender pointed. "There!" they broke into a run, sliding to a stop at the edge of the valley.

Below them, thirty or so Fallen surrounded Kalara, who was holding what looked like a long glowing staff of some kind. Lightning sparked and circled it. She struck one fallen, whirled and struck two more simultaneously. They flew backward, disintegrating as they went.

The staff sparked out of sight, and Kalara pulled her arms in toward her body. A glowing white light surrounded her, almost appearing like a bubble shield. The energy exploded outward, the shockwave visible in the icy air. Twelve Fallen dissapeared and the ones on the outer edge were sent flying.

Kalara paused to catch her breath, heart pounding. Another wave came at her from her left. Behind her, she heard a chunk of ice hit the valley from the ridge above the valley where her camp had been hidden at.

She focused, and was about to summon another wave of void energy when a flaming hammer hit the Vandal running toward her from behind, disintegrating it and the one next to it. The third roared and turned. Again, the flaming hammer whizzed through the air, and the remaining Vandal went flying. Off in the distance, Kalara spotted a trio of Gaurdians racing toward her. Their warlock-class floated up in the air and hurled a pair of void orbs.

Gavin went into a sliding stop, switching to an auto-rifle. Their comms came on. Kalara commed them "Don't use any solars that heat your armor, and watch out for their energy blasts. The ice refreezes as fast as it melts."

Another rock tumbled down the rise and Kalara whirled, power-jumping away from them, then double jumped up to the top of the rise. The trio exchanged a look, but focused on the remaining fallen.

A pair of Dregs screamed from above as they flew sideways from the top of the ridge, crashing down into the Fallen below. Lavender looked up. A second later, a Vandal appeared from above, arcing through the air, Kalara with it. It hit the ice with the enraged hunter on top. It growled out an insult. Kalara replied in it's own language before imbedding her dagger in it's skull.

Lavender stared at her for a moment. "Wow." she was going to comment on how angry her friend sounded, but instead asked "You speak Fallen?"

"Iliksni. And yes."

An explosion sounded from above them, at the ridge. Kalara's focus snapped upward toward the source, and she swore loudly and jogged toward the trail that led to it, double-jumping away. Gavin punched another Dreg and jogged after her. Lavender backed up firing a couple of shots as they went. Kalara yelled over the comm "Ten left. Finish them off!"

The Hunter jumped up in the air and summoned a lightning bolt, hurled it at the group. Two Vandals ducked behind crates and she jumped sideways to change direction, shooting the first. Saniya glided across the ice and tossed a grenade at the second. The valley was silent, and the group scanned the ice field, littered with Fallen bodies, one half-frozen walker, and a second further on, still trailing smoke, half-sunken into the ice.

They jogged up the trail, past three dead Dregs, a Vandal, two more Dregs, and finally a Captain further up the rise. ahead of them, Kalara was hefting up broken chunks of ice and tossing them aside, muttering to herself. "Have to get in there. Hope it's not collapsed..." She hefted another peice, staring blankly as more fell into it's place.

Gavin walked up "Here, let me help." he summoned his flaming hammer and swung, ice melting as it flew apart. "No Don't!" Kalara grabbed his arm "You'll bring the whole thing down!" He looked confused, but the hammer dissapeared.

"There's a cave back there. My cave..." she trailed off suddenly.

She stood there a moment, then had an idea. She concentrated, and an orb of solar energy appeared in her hands. Small enough to melt the ice, but not big enough to heat the ice she stood on. She moved forward, melting slowly through it. The orb expanded slightly, and Kalara hovered slightly so she wouldn't angle downward. Pretty soon, an opening appeared. She let out a sigh of relief and landed, the orb dissipated.

She pulled off her helmet and tossed it on a nearby crate, then strode over to the right side of the room, where a row of monitors and a small computer had been set up. She ignored the trio of Gaurdians, and wiped a dusting of ice particles off the keyboard, muttering "Please work..." it beeped and one screen lit up, the other two blinked then came on as well.

Gavin hit his comm, but got nothing but static. He looked around the ice-cave. As though sensing his question, Kalara replied "It's not the ice. This entire area is in a jamming zone." and continued typing. Saniya wandered toward where the cot had been, looking around. Kalara muttered something else under her breath, then said aloud "Thanks for the assistance. You guys can go now." She could tell Gavin was staring at her. "Tell the tower the boss and I are fine and we'll be back soon."

"Lavender folded her arms. "Speaking of which-"

"Don't." Kalara cut her off. "I don't have time to explain right now, I'll explain later." Gavin walked over to where she was typing and noticed her Ghost hovering silently over one of the screens, staring off into space." Lavender walked over now, also. "What's up with your Ghost?" she followed the trail of wires from the computer down to the top of the box next to it. "Oh no."

Kalara's shoulders dropped. She whirled, anger tinging her voice. "Damnit, why couldn't you just leave and let me finish with what I'm doing!? But no. You had to get nosy, didn't you." She sighed. "I can't let you go back and tell them." Gavin took two steps back. He knew something was off about his former teammate.

His gaze flitted to the far corner to the right of the computers. A dark-colored weapon was laying atop the boxes. He couldn't get a clear view of it because the shadows, but he recognised the points sticking out from it, and the dull green light pulsing slowly.

Saniya had one hand behind her back, allready starting to focus on void energy, should their friend become violent. Kalara just stood there for a moment and Lavender realised she was trying to figure out how to keep them there. The Hunter hadn't planned ahead for this.

Lavender glanced at the door. Whatever trip mines had been planted there had been set off by the Fallen, so there was no way to trap them all inside. She looked at the computer screens. "You can't use another chip. So what are you planning to do?" she hoped she could talk her friend out of whatever plan she had in mind.

"Not working on data Augmentation. Data replacement." She ignored the sounds of disbelief. Gavin took a step forward, EMP appearing in his hand. "We can't let you do that." Kalara looked over, voice calm. "And you think you can stop me?"

Lavender put herself between them, motioning for him to stop. His gaze flickered over her shoulder then back to her. The EMP pistol dissapeared. Lavender reached up and pulled off her helmet as well. It would be better to talk face-to-face than through a helmet.

"So that's why your Ghost is acting so strange." she went over and looked at it, hovering in place, not even moving. She silently hoped it's data hadn't been erased yet. Kalara started typing again. "He stopped yelling at me this morning. Hasn't spoken since. Won't speak to anyone. won't move." she muttered "It knows it's no longer mine." She hit a key and the computer beeped.

She moved to the right, reached out for her Ghost.

Gavin moved quickly behind her. "I'm sorry."

There was a crash as the Titan's fist slammed into the computer, smashing it to bits. Kalara turned, shocked. Her voice was a whisper. "What've you done?" She collapsed to the frozen floring, staring at the ground, on her knees. He had to strain to hear her. "That was the one chance I had. My only chance... I'll never go back now."

Lavender glared at Gavin and squatted down so she was face to face with Kalara. "It's not the only way. There's another way to revive a Ghost." Kalara looked up slowly, not listening. Not understanding.

"You remember the crucible, when we were chasing down Nox on Venus?" A half-dumb nod.

"Okay. Here's what you didn't see happen."

-FLASHBACK-

Danaxia tiptoed hurriedly up to the door of the room her boyfriend had been, making sure her cluster grenade had taken out all the Gaurdians that were hunting him. She switched to her eMP and snapped off a row of shots. The Ghosts hovering there dropped to the ground. The thought flashed through her head to throw them in every direction so it would take twice as long for them to find their Gaurdians. She decided against it. Their deaths would come soon enough.

Nox was slumped against the window, legs broken, a bullet hole in his helmet. Danaxia hissed out a curse and focused her light energy into his Ghost. It hovered up and scanned him, then he dissapeared and a moment later reappeared on his feet.  
The rogue Hunter walked over to where one of the Titans lay, and pulled his weapon from the Gaurdian's grasp. He backed up two steps, then kicked the Titan in the helmet. He looked over at where Lavender lay. Now walked casually toward her and squatted down, tilting his head. He looked at his gun, then muttered "Yes. This one has potential. Marked by the darkness."

He rose and went back to where the other Hunter, Kalara, was facedown. He picked up her ghost. He tapped it with the side of his gun to see if it would squeak. "I could use a snack." he chuckled. Nox rolled the hunter over with his foot, tossed the paralyzed Ghost onto it's Gaurdian and aimed his weapon. "Troublesome thing. You won't keep me from taking your friend."

He fired, purple-and-black energy lanced out from Thorn's dark maw, sucking in light as it went. He could almost hear it whisper to him "finally."

A light blinked from the right side as Saniya started to wake. apparently, she had only been knocked out. Danaxia aimed at her helmet and fired.

The pair walked out.

Some time later, none of them were sure how long, the two teams reappeared one by one. Saniya looked over at Lavender, then Gavin, who went to Kalara next.

The Titan paused a moment, staring, then stood, going past her to Zanthyr. He focused his light into the other Titan's Ghost, and Zanthyr dissapeared for a moment before rematerialising. Gavin wandered back to Kalara, but didn't try to revive her.

Zanthyr glanced at Kalara, then back to Gavin, confused. Lavender and Saniya walked up. "What? What's wrong?" Gavin knelt and silently picked up her Ghost. It's light flickered, then dimmed to where he feared it might have gone out.

Lavender hurried over. "Give him to me." He held it out, and Lavender took the ghost, focusing.

Electricity arced over her armor, then got brighter. Traces of void energy appeared, interlacing with it, and orange whisps lit up around her, mixing together into a soft white light.

The light got brighter and she focused on it, until a brilliant white light surrounded her, making the other Gaurdians step back and cover their eyes. The light faded and Lavender lowered her hands slightly,

Kalara's ghost floated up and turned to look at her. "I had no idea you could do that." It made a beeping noise and spun it's back finials, sounding impressed. "That was amazing!"

Lavender chuckled softly. "thank you."

It hovered a moment before going over to Kalara, scanned her, and she dissapeared, reappearing half a second later.

-PRESENT MOMENT-

Kalara stared at her for a whole minute. "You can do that?"

"I think *we* can."

She was silent another moment, then Kalara shook her head. Gavin asked "what's the problem? if it's a Hive replicate, We know how to handle that." Kalara looked at him, then stood and reached up to retrieve the weapon. It fell heavily into her hands. "This." she said "Is the problem!" she tossed it on top of the ruined computer with a heavy thhud.

It was an ugly black and grey color, a twisted mass of metal and bone. It barely resembled any of the Hive replications of Thorn they had ever seen. But this was different. Larger, heavier. And uglier.

The dark color of the muzzle faded into the charcoal and grey of the center where the metal had twisted and melted. Back further toward the handle, it was silver in color. In the center between the handle and the muzzle, what would once have been called the thornlike adornment had been twisted into a crude parody of stripes.

Three black stripes angled down the rear grip and the trigger-gaurd. Kalara stared at it. "The Fallen not only got their hands on a Hive weapon, they modified it using OUR TECHNOLOGY!" Lavender shook her head. "We still have to try. There's still a chance."

To prove her point, she summoned a handful of light. When Kalara didn't move, Lavender went over and picked up the green-colored ghost, pulling off wires. She focused, light reappearing in her hands, around it. Kalara joined her, focusing on light also. It got brighter, almost blinding. When it faded, there was a dull glow in the eye of the Ghost. It wasn't moving, however.

Kalara shook her head. Lavender thought quickly, then said "We need a focal point. Like we did before we learned how to cast light ourselves." Kalara nodded and turned, grabbing up the giant gun, tossed it back up on top of the boxes, and cleared the broken computer bits away. She set the green-colored ghost atop the crate and summoned her own. It looked at her, then Lavender, who smiled reassuringly. "Trust me."

Kalara's ghost turned back to the other as the pair started to focus. Lavender started to glow, and it turned bluish for a moment. Kalara was staring intently at her ghost, who was focusing the energy into a beam. The light got brighter, and Lavender lost focus, her light turning blue then orange before back to white, dimming slightly. Kalara's light was getting brighter.

She focused ever tiny bit of it she could, wiliing it to work. Even if it had to be every bit of the light she had.

The light flashed brighter and there was a blinding burst. The light faded and the Gaurdians blinked, trying to see what had happened. The Ghost hovered slowly up from atop the crate. Kalara felt the room spin and go dark.

A moment later, she opened her eyes, staring at a pair of feet. Lavender helped her up. She looked at her fellow Hunter, heard Lavender ask "You okay?" She nodded, trying to get her balance back. Lavender pullled her to her feet, and she swayed slightly. "Thanks."

"no problem."

Then Kalara had to lean on her when the room tried to go sideways again.

There was a shuffling sound from the alcove in the back, then Cayde appeared, brushing the frost off his armor. "What happened? Why are we up here?" He stopped, pointed at the group, then asked with disapproval "Why are they here?" he looked over at Kalara, who was still leaning on Lavender, smiling.

Her smile faded slightly "You don't remember?"

He thought for a second.

They were on the ice, he had just taken out the first stealth Vandal when the second landed a lucky shot. No problem, though. That's what his Ghost was for. It scanned him, and had just finished repairing the hole in his shoulder when his real target, the Fallen Baron, decided to make a break for it.

Cayde thought to himself "Making yourself an easy target, not smart. But the Fallen aren't the brightest critters in the galaxy." He brought up his hand cannon to take it down when Kalara launched a huge ball of light energy at it. 'Well, that's just dissapointing. Thirty Fallen in the area and the rookie goes for my target.' He strode up, intending to give her a thorough riling for stealing his target. He tried to sound dissaproving. "What was that!? I had him right where I wanted him."

Instead of apologising, Kalara looked past him and said in nearly the same tone "Missing something?"

'That has to be a joke.' he thought. He looked over his shoulder but found it *wasn't* a joke, and, in fact, his Ghost was laying on the ice unmoving. Too still. His thoughts darted back to the cosmodrome and he ran to pick it up.

A shot whizzed past. 'too close.' he thought, acting on instinct to bring up his hand cannon and snap off a pair of shots. The two Dregs fell. But he didn't see the Vandal behind them. Too late. Rookie mistake. It fired and the world flipped forward as he flew back.

He felt the impact of the ice on his back, tried to roll over. Caught sight of Kalara's boots as she moved toward him, firing at the Fallen, calling out to him.

Systems malfunction...

'Damn, caught something vital, too.'

...error..

the Hunter's vision swam and the world went dark. He could hear Kalara scream something, then nothingness.

Kalara must have seen the suprise on his face because she and Lavender both summoned a handful of light energy in reply.

"Uh-huh." he still looked confused. Kalara grinned from ear to ear. Instead of asking for an explanation (which would probably be long and technical and confusing), he asked "Hive weapon?"

Kalara's grin dissapeared. "No, not exactly." she walked over and yanked the thing off the crate in the corner. "This is what took out your Ghost." she set it on the lower crates with a heavy thud and backed off so he could look at it.

"wow. That is one ugly gun."

There was a rumble, and Kalara pointed at the monstrosity and asked her her Ghost. "Could you transmat that for me?" it did as Gavin moved toward the entrance. A moment later he reappeared. "we have company."

Kalara nodded. "Another Skiff. If we're gonna get across the ice field, we should go now." They made their way down the makeshift hall and Cayde asked "They set off the tripmines? Now I'm gonna have to set up more."

Kalara realised she forgot her helmet, and ducked back inside for it. Lavender already had hers back on. The skiff was off to the right, at the far end of the ice field. Kalara reappeared and headed for the side of the plateau opposite the trail. "I found a shortcut."

They jogged down and across the ice, Lavender slid to a stop to avoid an energy blast in front of her. "lookout!" Kalara grabbed her and yanked as the ice melted and gave way, snapping off a shot over Lavender's shoulder. A lone Captain was behind the crates.

Saniya glanced at the approaching crowd. "There's at least a hundred of them." Lavender jumped up, floated over the crates, and threw an orb of solar energy at the Captain before landing atop the crates. She jumped then jumped again to meet them as they ran across the ice.

Kalara called "Trail's just up ahead." They rounded the mountain and paused for a moment, then started to climb. 


	3. Chapter 3

They teleported in and Kalara merely smiled at the cheers from some of the Gaurdians out on the Plaza. They headed for the hall of the Vangaurd, and Kalara tried not to cringe when Zavala asked "What happened!? Why are you fourty-eight hours late returning?" Kalara gave Cayde a look, but replied, "I'm sorry, but it's in the rules. I can't talk about what happened out there."

Cayde looked over at the Vangaurd commander and sighed slightly. "You know the rules. What happens on the ice stays on the ice. Besides, we made it back." he paused before elaborating. "Yeah, things went a little sideways, but it's all good. We made it back, right?"

Zavala didn't answer, but gave him a look. Kalara paused as Cayde headed to his usual spot, and he motioned her over. "come on." her face lit up and she hurried around the table to stand next to him. He grabbed a mini-console and slid it over in front of her, setting it up. Kalara grabbed the earpiece, turning it on to linkup to the tablet-console.

She noticed the commander was staring. He asked "What do you think you are doing?"

Kalara looked up quickly. She looked to her left at Cayde. He glanced at Kalara before looking at Zavala. He continued."If you want a place at this table, you have to prove it; And not just to Cayde."

Kalara's thoughts whirled for a second before a smile crept across her features "What do you have in mind?"

"Go speak with Lord Shaxx."

Kalara chuckled and set down the earpeice, jogged out of the room, opening the envelope as she walked back in. "I'll see you three later." she turned and walked out. "And the answer is yes, by the way."

Later that day, in the in-tower crucible arena, Kalara transmatted in on the balcony. She could see the traveler floating over the city, and behind her the arena stretched out in the abandoned part of the habitation portion of the tower. She wondered just where it was, she could see open sky, but some of the buildings were open as well. She eyed the nearby tree, wondering if she could climb up into it.

She didn't need to, plus sniping wasn't much of a defense with such small spaces and sharp corners. "Three versus one" she muttered. "Not great odds..." she grinned before adding "for them." she chuckled. Lord Shaxx's voice rang out over the intercom "Beta team. Survival match."

She leaned against the tree and waited. After a minute or two, the same voice announced "Alpha Team. Survival match. fight! Survive! Win!" Kalara chuckled and bounced a grenade in one hand.

Suddenly there was a whoosh and a swirl of dark-colored mist. Kalara jumped up away from it to catch a glimpse of Ikora Rey before the Warlock hurled an orb of void energy at her.

Kalara reappeared, stunned. She commed "Wait-you can TELEPORT!? That's so awesome!"

"Thank you. You didn't know we Warlocks can teleport?"

"No, I never got to be a high enough level to... I was a rookie when, you know." Kalara shrugged.

"And you never learned how? Even as a transcendant?"

"No." Kalara sounded suprised.

Lord Shaxx announced "Round Two. New teams."

Kalara looked around. The invite had mentioned a series of unique rounds, but not what type of challenges they would be. Or how many. She announced to the air "Wow. That was dissapointing." The whoosh of a transmat sounded next to her and she glanced over. Then she groaned. "oh no."

"Nice to see you, too. Rookie."

Kalara rolled her eyes. It had to be Cayde. She really expected it to be her versus all three leaders. She wondered if they just felt sorry for her, or if they had something else in mind. she commed them "So, two versus two then?"

Ikora answered "Not exactly." Lavender's voice sounded now. "Hiya boss."

"Please don't call me that."

Lavender chuckled.

The voice over the loudspeaker boomed "Round two begins. Fight!"

Cayde darted forward, ducking right behind the corner of the nearby building. Kalara went left, looking down the abandoned street. It was still empty and Cayde started forward. Lavender rippled into view practically from thin air, and landed a shot that sent Cayde flying backward. Kalara's mind flashed back to the arctic and her eyes narrowed. She could see Lavender's teammates walking up.

Kalara backed off to her fallen teammate and threw her hands out to either side, a dome shield appeared. Then her right hand angled down behind her. Lavender barely heard her mutter. "Hell no." before the lightning-infused staff appeared in it as Cayde dissapeared. Lavender backed off a few feet and ducked behind a naerby corner. She commmed "Arctic flashback?"

Kalara jumped up as she replied "Yathink!?" and swung as she came down. Ikora teleported toward her with a whirl of purple energy, and Kalara double-jumped, phasing as she jumped to avoid the void attack. She swung, missed as Ikora teleported again, and rippled out of sight. Kalara swore, then spotted the familiar form of a towering Titan, running toward her.

The Hunter backed into her protective bubble, listening with her mnind, sensing where her adversaries were. Zavala reached her bubble the same time Ikora teleported in again. Kalara had pulled her arms inward, channeling energy. She threw it outward in an explosive force. The two diaapeaared.

"Round Three. Tied Match" came the announcement. Kalara ran back toward their 'spawn point' and waited. Cayde appeared a second later, looking around for the other team.

Lavender said over the comm "Wanna tell me what happened out there?"

"I can't talk about it."

"Even if there's a dangerous new weapon that there could be more than one of that can take out Gaurdians?"

"we put up warning beacons."

"Yeah, and you how many Gaurdians do you think are going to heed that warning? or will they see it as a challenge?"

Kalara stopped to consider it. If she told them what happened, any of it, she would basically forfeit her end of the wager, the same as losing. But if she kept that secret, other Gaurdians, if they found that spot (and if the Fallen DID have more of those weapons), things could turn out disastrously wrong. They needed to go back and investigate.

"You're right."

She could see the trio walking toward them. Kalara looked over at Cayde "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

She commed them "Hold your fire. We need to talk about what happened out there. It can't wait, it's too important."

"And there you go, ruining my fun." Kalara gave Cayde a look, though it went unseen for her helmet. The trio walked up, and she started to explain.

"The Fallen have a new more powerful weapon. And yes, know that if I tell the story of what happened on the ice, I forfeit my end of the wager." She glanced at Cayde. "I'm sorry, but this is more important than my own personal gain."

Zavala shouldered his own weapon and Kalara took a deep breath before continuing. "It's powerful enough to take out a Gaurdian's Ghost. We saw it in the Arctic. That's why we were two days late coming. back." She shook her head. "I think the Fallen somehow got their hands on the Hive replicates of thorn and combined it with our own EMP pistol that they stole in the Cosmodrome. They must have scanned it and gotten it's schematics, then combined it with the Hive replicate."

Ikora looked to her right at Zavala. "I think we just got out answer."

Kalara's focus snapped to Lavender "Wait, what!? you told them?" Kalara paused then added "I told you guys if you told anyone it would be the same as my losing. You weren't..." she stopped short "Nevermind." she realised it *was* too important to ignore, and just looked at the ground. "Guess I lost the wager. Sorry boss."

It was Commander Zavala who answered "On the contrary, Gaurdian. You may have just saved countless Gaurdians."

Kalara nodded, and after a moment realised by losing, she had actually proven herself by losing. He added "I expect to see you tomorrow morning at 0700 hours."

She couldn't help the grin that formed. "Yes sir!"  



End file.
